f
,the Monitor
l * NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
s THE REV. JOHN ALBERt WILLIAMS, Editor
$2.00 a Year—5c a Copy I OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1925 Whole Number 525 Vol. XI—No. 4
SEEUirMWORLD WAR ON COLO LINE
Desdunes Changes Mind and Declines to Play for Sheeted Gang
WHITE RESIDENTS
ATTEMPT TO DRIVE
POSTMAN AWAT
Purchased Property for Residence and
Declines to Sell Out at
Largely Advanced
Figure
LETTERS THREATEN MURDER
Policemen Have Been Appointed to
(■uard Brown's Home and Dis
trict Attorney to Start
Investigation
New York, July 31.—A special
grand jury, called by District Attor
ney Albert C. Each of Richmond coun
ty, to question fifteen whites sub
poenaed on charges of damaging the
property of Samuel Brown, a colored
postal employee, of 67 Fairview ave
nue, Castleton Hill, West New Brigh
ton, L. I., and attempting to frighten
him and his family from their home,
adjourned Tuesday without taking
any action. Thursday was set as the
date for the resumption of the case.
“A Matter of Principle"
Brown, who has become the victim
of a residential segregation design,
following his refusal to sell his prop
erty in the exclusive Castleton Hill
district to whites for less than $12,000,
before the court adjourned declared:
“It is now a matter of principle
with me; I am going to fight it out
to the end."
Attack Home
Several attacks have been made on
Brown’s home, the last one occuring
at 3:30 o’clock last Fiiday morning.
A number of white men hurled bricks
through windows of the house, up
rooted trees and destroyed flowers.
Brown reported the affair to the dis
trict attorney, who called the special
jury.
White neighbors of Brown have ad
mitted that they tried to induce him
to move out of that neighborhood.
Some of thpm said that Brown had
arouseil the resentment of the white
residents by demanding an excessive
price for his house when white people
offered to bey it. H. M. Robertson,
of the Robertson Development Com
pany, which developed Castleton Hill,
declared:
“My company sold the property to
a M rs. Evans a few years ago for
$6,600. If we had had any idea she
wanted to resell we would have will
ingly bought it back with a good
profit to her.
“I was elected chairman of a Citi
zen’s Committee that went to see
Brown. I pointed out that he was
the only colored man in a neighbor
hood which depended for its property
values on its exclusiveness, and that
in view of this we would pay him
$9,500 for his property. Brown de
clined the offer.”
Brown paid $8,500 for the property
in July, 1924, according to Ro!>ert.son.
He rejected another offer of $10,000
by the Citizens’ Committee. Robert
son said that Brown, in refusing the
second offer, asserted that he did not
want to sell because he had bought
the place for a permanent home and
intended to settle down.
Receives Threats
Brown declared that he had re
ceived many threatening letters since
the attempts to oust him began, many
of which were signed or undersigned
with crosses. One of the letters, he
declared, warned him that his wife,
a school teacher, would be "shot by
an ex-service man" if they did not
move. “She will not be shot in the
house but in the street while she is
returning from work," the letter fur
ther stated.
Postmaster Frank Foggins of Stat
en Island denied a report that he had
been asked to have Brown transfer
red to another postoffice.
Policemen have been ordered to
guard Brown’s house, on which fire
insurance has been cancelled a num
ber of times.
WHITE PHILANTHROPISTS
AID COLORED ORPHANAGE
Houston, Tex., July 31.—Four thou
sand dollars was donated toward the
Gilmer Texas Colored Orphans’ Home
by three white philanthropists within
leas than an hour after a campaign
had been launched by its founder,
Rev. W. L. Dickson. The donors were
John H. Kirby, $2,600; Will Hogg,
$1,000 and Jessie Jones $500. All
three have been regular contributors
to the institution.
DESDUNESCANCELS
h. K. K. ENGAGEMENT
AND PUBLISHES NOTICE
_
Last week The Monitor published
an article from the Omaha Daily
News to the effect that Dan Des
dunes, leader of the famous band
which has played an important part
in putting Omaha on the map and
has a national reputation, had prom
ised to play for the Ku Klux Klan,
and and would have done so July 4th
could he have been released from an
other engagement. The Monitor added
the information that it had been re
liably informed that a definite en
gagement ha.l been made for Tuesday
night, July 28, and a subsequent en
gagement, date not publicly given,
had also been accepted. Similar in
formation was carried in the daily
press.
The World-Herald of Sunday, July
26, carried this self-explanatory ad
vertisement:
TO WHOM IT MAY ( ON
CER N
Dan Desdunes Explains
Contrary to announcements,
Dan Desdunes Hand Will NOT
I’lay for the Ku Klux Klan pub
lic meeting.
I was simple enough to be
lieve that a band, like a rail
road, was created to serve all
of the people. I know better
now.
(Signed) DAN DESDUNES.
The second engagement was for Fri
day night, July 11, at a meeting of
the Omaha Klan. This engagement
was also cancelled, because of “ad
verse public sentiment”.
Readers of The Monitor and warm
admirers of Dan Desdunes everywhere
will be pleased to learn of his action
in this matter.
FINDS $1,100, TURNS
IT OVER TO POLICE
Los Angeles, Cal., July .‘il.—While
Herbert Howard, 24, erstwhile janitor
of the Plaza Branch of the Citizens
Trust and Savings Bank, was making
his nightly rounds he came upon a
neat package which he found contain
ed $1,100 in currency. Within an
hour the youth appeareil at the Cen
tral Station carrying a 38-calibre pis
tol in his hand. When the police dis
armed him and demanded to know
what it was all about, he told them
of his find and declared that he had
brought it to them for safe keeping.
The police commended Howard for his
honesty and took charge of the mo
ney, after advising him to be careful
with the “Big Bertha”.
SEGREGATION NOT SO
EASY IN LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles, Calif., July 31.—That
the colored citizens here do not intend
to tolerate segregation, has become
evident by the filing of two segrega
tion suits in the superior courts. One
suit brought by A. Hockett, of 1388
E. Washington street, charges that
the proprietor of a restaurant at 709
K. Washington street, St. Haynes,
unlawfully refused to serve him; the
other brought by P. L. Hodge charges
the Stearn Drug Co. with refusing to
serve him at one of its foutains. At
torney Willis O. Tyler is representing
the plaintiffs in both cases, which
have the backing of the N. A. A. C. P.
Subscribe for The Monitor!
HOWARD UNIVERSITY PLANS
BIG PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN
Washington, D. C., July 31.—A
Publicity Committee was authorized
by the Board of Trustees of Howard
University to aid in keeping the Uni
versity’s work before the philanthrop
ic public. The future of the Univer
sity is recognized to depend much
upon public approval.
At the first meeting held at the
Prince George Hotel, New York City,
Dr. Chas. R. Brown, of Yale Univer
sity, who is president of Howard’s
Board of Trustees, President J. Stan
ley Durkee, Secretary-Treasurer Dr.
Emmett J. Scott; Trustees, Moorland,
Dumas, Wheatland and Hawkins, Li
brarian E. C. Williams, Dean Kelly
Miller, and Emory B. Smith, secretary
of the alumni. It was resolved to
push a vigorous campaign of publici
ty, and to that end it was decided that
President Durkee be relieved from in
ternal routine details so that he may
employ his powers of oratory, in the
pulpit and platform throughout the
country, in placing Howard Univer
sity before the general public, and
making its claims on the public inter
est better known. Dean Kelly Miller,
Alumni Secretary Smith and others
will be associated with Dr. Durkee.
All these activities will be systema
tically outlined and directed by a com
mittee of four headed by Dr. Durkee.
Nature of Campaign
The propaganda will Ire set in mo
tion by a series of meetings in large
churches, white and colored, of New
York City, New Rochelle, Rochester
and Syracuse, N. Y.; Boston and Wor
cester, Massachusetts; Providence and
Newport, Rhode Island; Bridgeport,
New Haven and Hartford, Connecti
cut, and Montclair, New Jersey.
Speeches hefore civic organizations,
such as Rotary Clubs, Chambtrs of
Commerce and federations are to be
featured.
BANK REWARDS NEGRO
FOR FAITHFUL SERVICE
San Diego, Cal., July 31.—Chas. H.
Dodge, colored, who has been in the
employment of the Southern Trust
Commerce Bank of this city for many
years received a reward for faithful
and efficient service last week by be
ing given the position of confidential
clerk of the institution. The banking
officials stated that the position was
one which required both honesty and
ability, and one of vital importance
to the successful conduct of the con
cern.
HELPING THE BLACK MAN OUT OF HIS
SAD PLIGHT IS A DUTY AND A PLEASURE
Because I am interested chiefly in white
people I lake an interest in the Negro.
There are twelve million Negroes in the
United States. They are here to stay.
That’s a tenth of our population. It’s a
question whether we want them to be vici
ous or decent. I prefer to have my chil
dren and grandchildren live where there
is no ignorant, uncouth and vicious un
derprivileged class. If we would keep the
Negro down we must stay down with him.
It was this thought that first interested me
in the Negro.
Booker Washington said: “You can’t
keep a man in the ditch without staying
in with him and you can’t get out of the
ditch without climbing out too.”
Soon after I had read “An American
Citizen,” a biography of William II. Bald
win, the friend of Tuskegee, written by
John Graham Brooks, I met Booker Wash
ington. He asked me to become one of
the Tuskegee Institute trustees. In that
way I became interested in education for
Negroes. In one of my talks yith Dr.
Washington he pictured to me the miser
able condition of Negro secondary schools
in the South and asked me to finance an
experiment in extension work that would
cost about $25,000. I did it. The ex
periment was a success. There was $2000
left over. Dr. Washington asked me if I
would let him have it to help build a
number of experimental country school
houses. His idea was to interest both the
white people ami colored people in the
building of modest but substantial and
comfortable schools in given rural com
munities, donating one-fourth of the cost
BY JULIUS ROSEN WALD
(In Collier's Magazine)
when one-fourth had been raised by the
Negroes themselves and the balance hv
the white people. The plan worked so
well and aroused so much interest that
before the first of these schools was built
there were applications for funds for more. |
The idea spread and kept spreading with j
the result that we have over 2800 school
houses for Negroes in the fourteen south
ern states. They represent an investment
of nearly twelve mfttiol dollars. About
I 55 per cent has hern contributed by south
ern white people and out of public fumls;
and about 22 per cent has been raised by
colored people. The Julius Rosenwabl j
Fund, as it is now called, has contributed
18 per cent and supervised the construc
tion.
The results have been so gratifying
that there is a feeling of satisfaction and
a desire to increase rather than limit the
work. Wherever these schools are built
I there is an immediate and noticeable im-1
provement in the life and thought of the
colored people served. We find the Ne
gro taking more pride in his home and
premises and more pride in his children.
That little schoolhou.se with its trim win
dows. its spotless coat of paint and its
tidy furnishings sets a mark for him and
he tries to live up to it.
The Negro has city problems too. He
j needs a renter for education, recreaotion
j and service, such as the Y. M. C. A. fur
nishes in its buildings, and this need has
j been emphasized since the recent rnigra
lions to northern cities. The Negro larked
the means to provide such facilities. This
led me to make an offer which stimulated
white and colored people to work together
for the same cause. They raised the
needed funds, coonstructed the buildings
and co-operated in the management of the
completed property.
The Y. M. C. A. appealed to me for
this work because it could organize and
protect the Negroes—be a big brother to
a neglected group.
This movement has resulted in eighteen
buildings in fifteen cities. Two of the
liuildings are for women and girls in
New York and Philadelphia. The total
value of the property is more than three
million dollars. Of that amout, colored
people gave nearly four hundred thousand
dollars. White friends, in various cities,
gave more than a million and a half.
The acquisition of money is largely a
matter of luck; a man inherits money or
he stumbles upon some money making op
portunity. In my own case, I luckily, at
the right moment, fell into a business that
had great money-making possibilities. The
fact that I have been commercially suc
cessful is not due so much to my ability
as to great good luck. There are, no doubt,
men right here in this business (Sears,
Koehuck & Co.) today working for mod
est wages who would have made a greater
success of it than I have, had they had my
opportiynity. Having made money, my
problem now is how to use it so as to
give and get happiness out of it.
I am glad of the privilege of trying to
help the Negro climb out of the ditch.
POPULARITY CONTEST CIX)SES
The contest for the most popular
tennis Kiri was closed Monday even
ing at the North Side Branch Y. W.
C. A. After a brief program consist
ing of solos by Mr. Carter and read
ings from Paul Lawrence Dunbar by
Mrs. Senora Wilkinson the names of
the eight contestants and the votes
reported were read by the chairman
of the recreation committee, Mrs.
Minnie Dixon.
Miss Ernestine Singleton reported
513 votes and was declared the win
ner. She was presented with a fine
tennis racquet. Miss Mercedes John
son came second with 417 votes. The
committee decided to give a second
prize as Mercedes hud worked very
hard and made such an excellent
showing. The standing of the eight
contestants is as follows:
Miss Ernestine Singleton, B13 votes;
Miss Mercedes Johnson 417, Miss Mel
va McCaw 233, Miss Josephine Kat
cliffe 226, Miss Nancy Pharr 155, Miss
Louise Scott 152, Miss Geraldine Har
ris 51, Miss Helen Fletcher 46.
An Omaha Kiddie
LETTERS FROM OUR READERS |
- /
Commends Editorials
Omaha, Nebr., July 29, 1926.
To the F,ditor of The Monitor:
Your editorials, always worthwhile,
have in the mind of the writer been
exceptionally so in the recent issues j
of your helpful paper. I refer to your
views as expressed on the sad pre
valence of policy playing among our
people and the acceptance of our Dan
Desdunes of an invitation to play for
the ignominious Ku Klux Klan.
As little related as the two matters
may seem to be, there is an insiduous
principle common to both. Very
commendably our people are grasping
after business. On every hand they
are admonished to establish and sup
port business of our own. But like all
worthy causes this too has been very
seriously misapprehended and mis
applied. Unscrupulous persons have
concluded that any way a dollar may
be obtained other than by so-called
. common labor is more commendable
than that earned by honest sweat. In
siduously, social classifications are
gradually being formed on that basis.
Such a tendency augurs not the best
for the race’s future. A dollar ob
gained at the sacrifice of principle
acks much of being an asset.
It is therefore hoped that your ef
forts will bear fruit along the line
lesired. And may our mutual friend
Desdunes seriously consider, if he
Joes not reconsider, his promise in
the light of what I am quite sure is
his honest-to-goodness better judg
ment.
Truly Yours,
RUSSEL TAYLOR.
UPHOLDS BEQUEST TO MAID
Trenton, N. J., July 24.—(By the
Associated Negro Press.)—The will of
the late Mrs. Emma L. Woodward, of
this city, who died leaving most of
her $50,000 estate to her colored maid,
Miss Amelia M. Stewart, was upheld
last week by Vice-Chancellor Learning
in the Mercer County Orphans’ Court.
The bequest to Miss Stewart includes
the $25,000 home and personal prop
erty to the value of $25,000. Relatives
of Mrs. Woodward contested the will,
but the vice-chancellor held that there
was nothing to support the charge
that the testator had been unduly in
fluenced.
YOUNGEST GRANDMOTHER IS 30
Hagerstown, Md., July 31.—(A. N.
P.)—The youngest grandmother in the
United States so far discovered is
Mrs. Lola Dixon of this city, who is
just 30 years old. Her daughter, Mrs.
R. W. Middleton, is just IB, and has
just become the mother of a boy.
Mr. E. C. Bryant of the South Side
and an employee of the American
Smelting company delivered a highly
commended address last Sunday even
ing before the Young Peoples Societj
of the First Reformed church al
Twenty-third and Deer Park Boule
vard on “The Accomplishments of the
American Negro.”
t
FUERNAL OF MRS. RUSSELL
_
Saturday afternoon, July 25, 1925,
the funeral services for Mrs. Fannie
Russell, wife of Eugene Russell and
president of the Nebraska State Fed
eration of Colored Women’s Clubs,
was held at the residence, 4025 Sew
ard street, with burial at Forest j
I,awn cemetery. The services were in
charge of the Rev. Chas. Williams of j
St. John’s A. M. E. church of which j
the deceased was a member. The fol- j
lowing program was rendered: Selec
tion, St. John’s A. M. E. choir; Prayer,
Rev. O. J. Burckhart; Selection St.
John’s A. M. E. choir; Scripture, Rev.
Mr. Divers, Bethel A. M. E. church;
Solo, “Face to Face”, Mrs. Maud Ray;
Obituary and Sermon, Rev. Chas. Wil
liams; Resolutions—St. John’s A. M.
E. Church, Mr. James Clarke; Eureka
Art Club, Mrs. Sothem; Dubois Dra
matic Club, Mrs. Ada Smith; Happy
Hour Club, Mrs. Moffitt; State Fed
eration of Colored Women’s Clubs,
Mrs. Rhieva Harrold, secretary of Ne
braska State Federation of Colored
Women’s Clubs; Solo, Mr. Levi Broom- ;
field; Prayer, Rev. Mr. Slater, Coun
cil Bluffs, A. M. E, church.
r riends from out of the city and
representatives from the federated
clubs of the state were among the
large audience which came to pay
tribute to the deceased. The floral
offerings which nearly filled the
room, covering the casket and every
available space were evidence of the
esteem in which the deceased was
held throughout the country. Mrs.
Russell was an elocutionist of unusual
ability, an active worker in the church
and clubs, being organizer of the,
Happy Hour Club, a charter member
of the Eureka Art Club and a mem
ber of the Dubois Dramatic Club. Site
was especially interested in and de
voted much of her time to all char
itable work. Telegrams and letters
were received from all parts of the
country.
Those from out of the city were:
Mr. Wm. Green, Minneapolis; Mrs.
Malinda Boone, Kansas City; Mr. Jno.
Patrick, St. Joseph, Mo.; Mr. Wm.
Patrick, Kansas City, Kan.; Mrs. Rosa
Green, Kansas City, Kan.; Mrs. Fields,
Des Moines, la.; Mr. Wesley Talbert,
Des Moines, la.; Mrs. Minnie Parks,
Minneapolis; Mrs. Sadie Gwynn, Den
ver; Mr. Robert Johnson, Lincoln; Mr.
and Mrs. John Baker, Grand Island;
Mrs. Ada Holmes, Lincoln, Neb., first!
vice-president of State Federation of
Colored Women’s Clubs; Mrs. Fannie
Young, Lincoln, Neb., chairman of!
Home Committee; Mrs. Belle Collins,!
Lincoln, Neb., chairman of Music and !
Art. —By Helen Ricketts.
CONVENTION NOTES
Mr. Ed. Killingworth, R. L. Wil
I liams, R. C. Long and Dr. W. W.
Peebles attended the American Le
gion convention at Columbus, Nebr.,
as representatives of Theo. Roosevelt
Post No. 30 of Omaha.
Mrs. Clarence Gordon attended
i * he American Legion Auxiliary con
vention at Columbus, Neb., as a rep
I resentative of the Auxiliary of Roose
I velt Post No. 30 of Omaha.
_
Theodore Roosevelt Post No. 30 was
awarded the badge of citation for
distinguished service, which consisted
of an increase of members over for
mer years.
The smoker and committee meeting
held on Friday night was addressed
by Major Mason, executive secretary
of the American Legion Convention
Committee. His address was in the
nature of instructions to the commit
tee and legionaires, covering their
duties and responsibilities in connec
tion with the American Legion Con
vention which meets in Omaha in Oc
tober. After the smoker was over,
Major Mason held a meeting with the
Citizens Committee and gave them
detailed instructions concerning their
duties and responsibilities necessary
for the American Legion Convention
in October. Refreshments were served
during the evening.
DR. ERNEST E. JUST
CONTINUED AT HOWARD
It is pleasing to note that the Na
tional Research Council has notified
Dr. J. Stanley Durkee that the Rosen
wald Fellowship for Dr. Ernest E.
Just will be continued at Howard Uni
versity.
Dr. Just has received wide recogni
tion for his biological research work.
FORECASTS FIERCE
WORLD-WIDE RACE
CONFLICT SOON
Writer Believes Events in China, India
and Morocco Are Preliminary
Stages of Anticipated
Armageddon
WHITE PRESTIGE DOOMED?
Shadow of the War Cloud in East
Is Falling Darkly Upon World
Supremacy of White Race
Is Claim
London, July 29.—The events in
China, Morocco and India are ap
parently the preliminary stages of an
unparalleled war to the death between
the white and colored races, with the
Pacific as the central battleground,
says F. Britten Austen in The Sunday
Pictorial. He believes the world is
rushing toward a struggle directed by
a Bolshevist campaign, which will
make the fall of the Roman Empire
look like a small local affair in the
destinies of the white nations.
“The shadow of a war cloud in the
East is falling darkly upon the hither
to sunny world supremacy of the
white race,” says Mr. Austen. “It is
unpleasantly possible that the cloud
may be cloven tomorrow or the day
after, but inevitably by the lightning
flashes of war. The white man’s
prestige will disappear when the
savage, barbaric millions from Africa
and Asia can defy the white man.
“The white man has forcibly fed the
ancient populations with the newest
theories of education, politics and so
cial custom. He has fatuously pre
sented them with thousands and thou
sands of cinemas showing the white
races in a contemptible light. He has
committed the crowning folly of lead
ing the colored races into battle
against white men. In Africa, India,
Indo-China and China tens of thou
sands of demobilized war auxiliaries
have returned to spread the wondrous
tale that the white man is not in
vincible.
“The colored race hates the white
man, with a hate whereof we have no
conception. Moscow’s one great re
iterated hope is that the innumerable
millions of colored races rise and mas
sacre the white man. They have used
feverish propaganda to accomplish
this.
“They count cunningly on Japan.
Although Japan is equal with the
Western nations in the war of com
merce, the white man insultingly
treats her nationals as an inferior
race. Her populations are desperate
ly overcrowded, but the white man
denies them an outlet. Japan could
fight a war against America or Great
Britain, or both, with a reasonable
prosptect of at least temporary suc
cess. If she should, the whole world’s
colored race would seeth in fanatic
excitement.
.STOP LIGHT INVENTOR
FIGHTS FOR PATENT
Chicago, July 31.—A desperate
struggle is being waged by Levy
Bostick, colored, inventor of the auto
stop light, to secure patent rights
on the device, which it is estimated
has a value of $12,000,000. At the
present time many concerns are pro
ducing stop lights under different
names from the original, and taking
the right of production from its orig
inator. The Victor Evans patent law
firm is prosecuting the case, but is
met with stiff opposition from trusts
and syndicates.
SCORE VICTORY OVER
SEGREGATION IN OHIO
Cleveland, O., July 31.—Steve Spa
nos, proprietor of a restaurant at
7820 Cedar avenue, who refused to
serve a colored patron in his place
of business, was found guilty of vi
olating the the Ohio Civil Rights Law
and sentenced last Saturday.
The case against Spanos was
brought by Brown and Collins, resi
dents of the Cedar Avenue Y. M. C.
A. who refused to eat in a back room
of the Greek’s restaurant, and were
thereupon not served.
The winning of the suit against
Spanos marks the second victory of
the Negroes of this state against se
gregation within the last three weeks.
The other case was against segrega
tion of Negroes by the Dayton school
| board.
